EP0954172A2 - Appareil et méthode d'affichage d'un guide électronique de prévisualisation - Google Patents

Appareil et méthode d'affichage d'un guide électronique de prévisualisation Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0954172A2
EP0954172A2 EP99303331A EP99303331A EP0954172A2 EP 0954172 A2 EP0954172 A2 EP 0954172A2 EP 99303331 A EP99303331 A EP 99303331A EP 99303331 A EP99303331 A EP 99303331A EP 0954172 A2 EP0954172 A2 EP 0954172A2
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
epg
slot
size
characters
slots
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Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP99303331A
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German (de)
English (en)
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EP0954172A3 (fr
Inventor
Hiroyuki c/o Toshiba Corporation Chimoto
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Toshiba Corp
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Toshiba Corp
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Publication date
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Publication of EP0954172A2 publication Critical patent/EP0954172A2/fr
Publication of EP0954172A3 publication Critical patent/EP0954172A3/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/08—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
    • H04N21/426—Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof
    • H04N21/42607—Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof for processing the incoming bitstream
    • H04N21/4263—Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof for processing the incoming bitstream involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
    • H04N21/431—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
    • H04N21/4312—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
    • H04N21/4314—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
    • H04N21/431—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
    • H04N21/4312—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
    • H04N21/4316—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H04N21/482—End-user interface for program selection
    • H04N21/4821—End-user interface for program selection using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time

Definitions

  • the present invention generally relates to an electronic preview guide display system, for example for use in digital broadcast for providing viewers broadcast program information.
  • the EPG data is displayed in a grid pattern or a two-dimensional matrix with an axis listing channel numbers or TV station names (hereinafter referred to as a channel-list axis) and a time-axis listing program titles to be broadcast.
  • a channel-list axis an axis listing channel numbers or TV station names
  • time-axis listing program titles to be broadcast.
  • the time-axis of the EPG screen is limited to information of programs about in two hours ahead from the present time. This viewer cannot tell what programs will be broadcast thereafter.
  • the number of TV channels to be listed should be increased.
  • the number of the channels capable available on one screen would be in a range of 6 to 8. So that, a viewer has to operate many times of scroll operations to search over or reach a program information of his/her interest.
  • a known electronic preview guide display system had a problem that it only shows program information within two or three hours in the direction of the time-axis, and about six to eight channels in the direction of the channel-list axis, so that it imposed a considerable inconvenience on viewers.
  • the present invention seeks to provide an electronic preview guide display system capable of increasing an amount of information given in at least one of the directions of the time-axis direction and the channel-list axis of an EPG screen, while in a pattern easily readable for viewers.
  • an electronic preview guide display apparatus for use in a broadcast receiver, for selectively presenting viewers its broadcast schedule, in a grid pattern with one or more rows each showing a TV channel number or a TV station name and an array of slots containing preview guide messages of its broadcast schedule extending in the direction of time axis, by using a preview guide data broadcast by each broadcast station and a present time, the apparatus is provided with a display controller for making an EPG slot at the present time or a viewer-designated time wider than other slots within the EPG screen
  • viewers can easily view information of programs at a time, of a TV channel number or a broadcast station that they wish. In addition it can display a lot of information of programs by compressing the size of other slots.
  • viewers can view the display in a natural visual form. So that, viewers can perform a channel selection in agreeable to the occasion.
  • FIGURE 1 shows a slot diagram of a general TV receiver having an EPG screen system, according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
  • a TV signal received by an antenna 11 is input to a tuner 12.
  • the tuner 12 selects a channel that the viewers wish Here the channel selection is carried out through operations on a remote controller by the viewers.
  • An output signal from the tuner 12 is applied to a demultiplexer (DMUX) 13.
  • DMUX demultiplexer
  • the demultiplexer 13 demultiplexes the signal into a video stream, an audio stream, and a data stream.
  • the video data is applied to a video decoder 14, while the audio data is applied to an audio decoder 15.
  • a video signal decoded in the video decoder 14 is performed a proper image processing in an image processor 16, and then applied to a back-end processor 17.
  • An output from the back-end processor 17 is supplied to a display 18 and displayed thereon.
  • An output from the audio decoder 15 is converted into an analog signal in a digital/analog converter (D/A) 19, and then supplied to a speaker 20.
  • D/A digital/analog converter
  • the tuner 12 is connected to a tuner controller 21.
  • the tuner controller 21 controls the tuner 12 to select channels in a round-robin fashion at prescribed periods
  • the tuner 12 takes a TV signal of each channels under the control of the tuner controller 21 and then supplies the TV signal to a demultiplexer 13.
  • the demultiplexer 13 demultiplexes the TV signal to a video stream and a data stream.
  • the video stream is then forwarded to a video decoder 14, while the data stream is forwarded to a CPU 22.
  • the video decoder 14 decodes only I-frames for presenting an opening stage rough.
  • the I-frame video data are then supplied to an image processor 16.
  • the image processor 16 processes the input video data so as to present a predetermined size of EPG screen.
  • a back-end processor 17 receives the output of the image processor 16 and then displays the video data on a display 18.
  • an infrared light receiver 24 coupled to the remote controller 23 transfers the instruction signal to a CPU 22. Then the CPU 22extracts EPG data from the data stream and stores them in a main memory 25. The EPG data are then supplied to a video decoder 14 for developing the EPG screen on the display 18. In receipt of the EPG data, the video decoder 14 changes from a normal program display mode to the EPG screen display mode, and then displays the EPG screen on the display 18 through the image processor 16 and the back-end processor 17.
  • FIGURE 2 shows a slot diagram of a TV receiver having a double-window function and an EPG screen system according to the present invention.
  • same elements as those shown in FIGURE 1 are assigned with the same reference numerals or symbols , and only the different parts will be explained hereinafter.
  • a TV signal received by an antenna 11 is also input to a tuner 26.
  • the tuner 26 performs a back-end processing in place of the tuner 12.
  • the tuner 26 is coupled to a tuner controller 21 for an EPG operation.
  • the tuner controller 21 controls the tuner 26 to select several channels in each specific period.
  • the tuner 26, according to the control, takes the TV signals of each channels and inputs them to the demultipledxer (DMUX) 27.
  • the demultiplexer 27 demultiplexes its input signal into a video stream and a data stream.
  • the video stream is forwarded to a video decoder 28, while the data stream is forwarded to a CPU 22.
  • the video decoder 28 decodes only I-frame contained in an MPEG data to display a preview screen of the EPG data.
  • the decoded image data are supplied to an image processor 29.
  • the image processor 29 stores the input image data into its internal memory, after compressing the image data in relation to its horizontal and vertical scales.
  • the instruction is passed to the CPU 22 via an infrared light receiver 24.
  • the CPU 22 issues a command for instructing the back-end processor 17 to divide the screen, and at the same time issues a command for instructing the image processor 29 to compress the horizontal size of the image size into a half.
  • the back-end processor 17 divides the screen into two sub-screens, and assigning the left sub-screen for a displaying usual programs, and the right sub-screen for displaying an EPG screen.
  • the image processor 16 compresses the horizontal size of the image data output from the decoder 14 into a half.
  • the CPU 22 extracts the EPG data from the data stream and stores them in a main memory 25.
  • the EPG data are then developed to an EPG screen data and pass the screen data to the video decoder 28.
  • the video decoder 28 changes the operation of the receiver from the usual program display mode formerly displayed to the EPG screen mode.
  • the EPG screen is displayed in the right half of the display 18 through the image processor 16 and the back-end processor 17.
  • FIGURES 3 to 5 the manner to display the EPG screen according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be explained in relation to the above construction.
  • he EPG screen is presented by using a non-linear logarithm change characteristics. So, in this embodiment the EPG screen has slots changed their size in the direction of the time-axis in accordance with the non-linear logarithm characteristics.
  • FIGURE 3a shows an example of the EPG screen for one TV station which services two channels.
  • the EPG screen two lines of channel information are aligned in the vertical direction.
  • Each line has a plurality of EPG slots in the order of time running in the horizontal direction (time axis direction).
  • the example of the EPG screen is characterized by that size of the EPG slots change gradually in a non-linear manner in the direction of the time axis.
  • FIGURE 3b shows three patterns of curves A; l/Log m (N ⁇ T) , B; 1/(N ⁇ T) , and C; 1/exp (N ⁇ T) , as the examples of the non-linear change characteristic
  • the EPG screen is presented based on the curve A.
  • the EPG screen can be presented based on either one of the curves B or C.
  • a hair-line cursor is displayed on the EPG screen.
  • a viewer can scroll the EPG screen to the designated direction.
  • the size of the slots decreases in accordance with the curve A, as shown in FIGURE 3b. Accordingly, a large number of EPG slots can be packed in the limited space of the EPG screen, in comparison to conventional EPG screens with a linear scale of time axis.
  • the time axis has the non-linear logarithmic change the EPG screen is presented in a natural visual form for viewers, so that they can perform a channel selection in agreeable to the occasion.
  • FIGURE 4 shows the flow of operation steps for displaying the non-linear patterned EPG screen.
  • the EPG data from the TV station and the present time data are updated and stored in the step S1.
  • a menu screen listing display patterns is presented (step S3).
  • the viewer selects his/her favorite display pattern (step S4).
  • a non-linear processing routine corresponding to the selected display pattern is prepared, and a time defining a fiducial (or the present time, at the beginning) is read out from the main memory 25 (step S5).
  • the fiducial time is pointed by a hair-line cursor (step S6).
  • the initial value of the fiducial time is set to the present time.
  • a start time Ts of each program is extracted from the EPG data (step S7).
  • the time difference Td from the start time Ts to the present time Tl is obtained by the following equation 1.
  • Td Ts ⁇ Tl
  • step S8 the size of the EPG slot DS is sought (step S8).
  • This seek operation can be carried out to present the EPG screen on either the right or the left screen not but on a whole screen as shown in FIGURE 3a, for example in a TV receiver with a high-performance function like the double-window system as shown in FIGURE 2.
  • FIGURE 5 shows an example of such a double-window display.
  • slots A to E are allotted for channel numbers (or TV station names).
  • the size of a given EPG slot is determined by the following equations (step S9).
  • the base m of the logarithmic function Log is set to 10, while its coefficient N is also set to 10.
  • Px DS/Max (Pixel Number) ⁇ (1/Log 10 (N ⁇ Td))
  • a character string such as a program title is extracted from the EPG data (step S11).
  • a number of characters Pc in the program title is then counted (step S12).
  • a number of characters Pg in additional information such as a sub-title is counted (step S13).
  • the number of displayable characters is checked from the size Pu determined by the equation 3.
  • the pixel size Cs of the character in the X direction (i.e., the time-axis direction on the EPG screen) is checked (step S14).
  • the size Cp of each character including the gap Gp in the X direction will be determined by the following equation 4 (step S14).
  • Cp Cs + Gp
  • CC Pu/Cp
  • a character string available in the EPG slot is decided (steps S19, S20, and S21) by comparing the number of characters Pc (or Pc + Pg) obtained in the step S12 with the number of displayable characters CC calculated by the equation 5 (steps S16, S 17, and S18).
  • step S18 If "CC ⁇ PC" is positive (step S18), no character display will be carried out (step S21).
  • the present embodiment can provide an EPG screen presenting a lot of program information for a long time due to that the size of the EPG slots varies in the time-axis direction. Especially, since the size of the EPG slots varies with the non-linear logarithmic function, viewers can view the screen in agreeable to the occasion.
  • This second embodiment is different from the first embodiment by that the size of the characters are variable.
  • FIGURES 6a and 6b show an example that the size of the EPG slots is companded in a non-linear manner in the time-axis direction, and that the character size varies in accordance with the size of the EPG slot.
  • FIGURE 6a shows the EPG screen according to this second embodiment
  • FIGURE 6b shows three patterns of non-linear change characteristics.
  • FIGURE 7 shows the flow of operation steps for displaying the non-linear patterned EPG screen according to the second embodiment.
  • the EPG data from the TV station and the present time data are updated and stored in the step S31.
  • a menu screen listing display patterns is presented (step S33).
  • the viewer selects his/her favorite display pattern (step S34).
  • a non-linear processing routine corresponding to the selected display pattern is prepared, and a time defining a fiducial (or the present time, at the beginning) is read out from the main memory 25 (step S35).
  • the fiducial time is pointed by a hair-line cursor (step S36).
  • the initial value of the fiducial time is set to the present time.
  • a start time Ts of each program is extracted from the EPG data (step S37).
  • the time difference Td from the start time Ts to the present time Tl is obtained by the following equation 1.
  • Td Ts ⁇ Tl
  • step S38 the size of the EPG slot DS is sought.
  • This seek operation can be carried out to present the EPG screen on either the right or the left screen, for example, in the TV receiver with the double-window display system.
  • FIGURE 8 shows an example of that the EPG screen is superimposed on the normal program display screen by using a semi-transparent display.
  • the size Px of a given EPG slot is determined by the following equations (step S39).
  • the base m of the logarithmic function Log is set to 10, while its coefficient N is also set to 10.
  • Ps DS/Max (Pixel Number) ⁇ (l/Log 10 (N ⁇ Td) )
  • Pigment Number represents the number of effective display pixels in a line.
  • a character string such as a program title in the EPG data is read out (step S41).
  • a number of characters Pc in the program title is then counted (step S42).
  • a number of characters Pg in additional information such as a sub-title is counted (step S43).
  • the total number of the characters to be displayed is calculated (step S44). Then the sizes of the characters are determined from the total number of the characters and the size of the EPG slot determined by the equation 8.
  • the number of characters is selected from the larger ranking the number of characters Pc in the program title and the number of characters Pg in the sub-title.
  • the size of the EPG slot Pu is divided by the selected one of the number of characters by the following equation 9 (step S45).
  • Fsz Pu/Max (Pc
  • the result Fsz of the equation 9 is compared with a threshold value Fmin of the minimum character size stored in the main memory 25 (step S46). When the Fsz is greater then the Fmin, characters with the font-size nearest to the Fsz are used for the EPG (step S47). If the Fsz is smaller than the Fmin, first the number of characters Pc in the program title and the number of characters Pg in the sub-title are compared with each other. If the Pc is smaller than the Pg, the value Fsz is again calculated by the following equation 10 (steps S48, and S49).
  • Fsz Pu/Pc
  • the reason that the number of characters Pc in the program title is used for the determination of the Fsz is because of that the program title is more important for viewers than the additional program information such as the sub-title.
  • the value Fsz and the Fmin are compared with each other (step S46). If the value Fsz is greater than the Fmin, characters with the font-size nearest to the Fsz are used for the EPG slot (step S47).
  • step S50 If the value Fsz is yet smaller than the Fmin in the step S46, the display of character string in the EPG slots is given up and the slots are left in a blank (step S50).
  • step S51 it is determined whether the character display processing has been carried out for EPG slots. If there remains any EPG slot unfinished the character presentation, the operation repeats the routine on and after the step S37 (step S51).
  • the present embodiment can suppress the reduction of the characters to be displayed in the EPG slots when the size of the slots had been reduced, since although the EPG slots are companded in only the time-axis direction by the non-linear processing the size of the characters is reduced in tied to the size of the EPG slots. Accordingly, it can provide viewers a large amount of program information.
  • FIGURES 9a and 9b show an example that the start position of the EPG slots on the EPG screen is companded in a non-linear manner in the time - axis direction, and that the number of characters available in the EPG slot is variable.
  • FIGURE 9a shows the EPG screen according to this third embodiment
  • FIGURE 9b shows the relation between the non-linear logarithmic curve and the size of the EPG slots.
  • FIGURE 10 shows the flow of operation steps for displaying the non-linear patterned EPG screen according to the third embodiment.
  • FIGURE 11 shows an example of such a double-window display to which the operation of FIGURE 10 is adapted.
  • the EPG data from the TV station and the present time data are updated and stored in the step S61.
  • a menu screen listing display patterns is presented (step S63).
  • the viewer selects his/her favorite display pattern (step S64).
  • a non-linear processing routine corresponding to the selected display pattern is prepared, and a time defining a fiducial (or the present time, at the beginning) T0 is read out from the main memory 25 (step S65).
  • the fiducial time is pointed by a hair-line cursor (step S66).
  • the initial value of the fiducial time is set to the present time.
  • a start time Ts of each program is extracted from the EPG data (step S67).
  • the start time Ts is then used in the non-linear processing routine (step S68).
  • a logarithmic function Log m T is read out from a memory (the base m of the logarithmic function Log is set to any number, while its coefficient N is also set to any number) (step S69).
  • a start position St of each of the EPG slot is determined by the following equation 11 (step S70).
  • the operation of the steps S67 through S70 is repeated until the start positions St of all EPG slots have been determined (step S71).
  • St Log m N(Ts ⁇ T0)
  • the size of the EPG slot is determined and also it is checked how many characters can be placed in the slot. Then, based on the result, necessary characters are displayed in the EPG slot. Referring back to FIGURE 10, the flow of the above-described operation will be described.
  • the size of the EPG slot Pu is determined from the difference between the start position St0 of the EPG slot and the start position St1 of the following EPG slot (step S72).
  • Pu St1 ⁇ St0
  • a character string such as a program title is extracted from the EPG data (step S73).
  • a number of characters Pc in the program title is then counted (step S74).
  • a number of characters Pg in additional information is counted (step S75).
  • the number of displayable characters is checked from the size determined by the equation 12.
  • the pixel size Cs of the character in the X direction i.e., the time-axis direction on the EPG screen
  • the size Cp of each character including the gap Gp in the X direction will be determined by the following equation 13 (step S77).
  • CC Pu/Cp
  • a character string available in the EPG slot is decided (steps S79, S81, and S82) by comparing the number of characters Pc (or Pc + Pg) obtained in the step S77 with the number of displayable characters CC calculated by the equation 14 (steps S80, S 82, and S84).
  • step S83 If "CC ⁇ PC" is positive (step S83), no character display will be carried out (step S84).
  • step S85 it is determined whether the character display processing has been carried out for EPG slots. If there remains any EPG slot unfinished the character presentation, the operation repeats the routine on and after the step S67 (step S85).
  • the start position of the EPG slot is companded in the time-axis direction by the non-linear processing, and the number of characters available in the EPG slot is made variable, it can provide viewers an EPG screen with the easily readable pattern.
  • FIGURES 12a and 12b show an example that the start position of the EPG slots on the EPG screen is companded in a non-linear manner in the time-axis direction, and that the size of characters is variable.
  • FIGURE 12a shows the EPG screen according to this third embodiment
  • FIGURE 12b shows the relation between the non-linear logarithmic curve and the size of the EPG slots.
  • FIGURE 13 shows the flow of operation steps for displaying the non-linear patterned EPG screen according to the fourth embodiment.
  • FIGURE 14 shows an example of that the EPG screen is superimposed on the normal program display screen on a wide-aspect display by using a semi-transparent display.
  • the EPG data from the TV station and the present time data are updated and stored in the step S91.
  • a menu screen listing display patterns is presented (step S93).
  • the viewer selects his/her favorite display pattern (step S94).
  • a non-linear processing routine corresponding to the selected display pattern is prepared, and a time defining a fiducial (or the present time, at the beginning) T0 is read out from the main memory 25 (step S95).
  • the fiducial time is pointed by a hair-line cursor (step S96).
  • the initial value of the fiducial time is set to the present time.
  • a start time Ts of each program is extracted from the EPG data (step S97).
  • the start time Ts is then used in the non-linear processing routine (step S98).
  • a logarithmic function Log m T is read out from a memory (the base m of the logarithmic function Log is set to any number, while its coefficient N is also set to any number) (step S99).
  • a start position St of each of the EPG slot is determined by the following equation 15 (step S100).
  • the operation of the steps S97 through S1000 is repeated until the start positions St of all EPG slots have been determined (step S101).
  • St Log m N(Ts ⁇ T0)
  • the size of the EPG slot Pu is determined from the difference between the start position St0 of the EPG slot and the start position St1 of the following EPG slot (step S102).
  • Pu St1 ⁇ St0
  • a character string such as a program title is extracted from the EPG data (step S103).
  • a number of characters Pc in the program title is then counted (step S104).
  • a number of characters Pg in additional information such as a sub-title is counted (step S105).
  • the total number of the characters to be displayed is calculated (step S106). Then the sizes of the characters are determined from the total number of the characters and the size of the EPG slot determined by the equation 16.
  • the number of characters is selected from the larger ranking the number of characters Pc in the program title and the number of characters Pg in the sub-title.
  • the size of the EPG slot Pu is divided by the selected one of the number of characters by the following equation 17 (step S107).
  • Fsz Pu/Max (Pc
  • the result Fsz of the equation 17 is compared with a threshold value Fmin of the minimum character size stored in the main memory 25 (step S108). When the Fsz is greater then the Fmin, characters with the font-size nearest to the Fsz are used for the EPG (step S109). If the Fsz is smaller than the Fmin, first the number of characters Pc in the program title and the number of characters Pg in the sub-title are compared with each other. If the Pc is smaller than the Pg, the value Fsz is again calculated by the following equation 18 (steps S110, S111).
  • Fsz Pu/Pc
  • the reason that the number of characters Pc in the program title is used for the determination of the Fsz is because of that the program title is more important for viewers than the additional program information such as the sub-title.
  • the value Fsz and the Fmin are compared with each other (step S112). If the value Fsz is greater than the Fmin, characters with the font-size nearest to the Fsz are used for the EPG slot (step S113).
  • step S112 If the value Fsz is yet smaller than the Fmin in the step S112, the display of character string in the EPG slots is given up and the slots are left in a blank (step S114).
  • step S115 it is determined whether the character display processing has been carried out for EPG slots. If there remains any EPG slot unfinished the character presentation, the operation repeats the routine on and after the step S97 (step S115).
  • the present embodiment can provide a lot of program information when the size of the slots had been reduced, since although the start positions of the EPG slots are companded in only the time-axis direction by the non-linear processing the size of the characters is made variable for inserting an entire of the character string into the EPG slots.
  • the fifth embodiment has a configuration similar to the first embodiment, but different by that the size of the characters are variable.
  • FIGURES 15a and 15b show an example that the size of the EPG slots is companded in a non-linear manner in the channel-list axis direction, and that the number of characters varies in accordance with the vertical size of the EPG slot.
  • FIGURE 15a shows the EPG screen according to this fifth embodiment
  • FIGURE 15b shows three patterns of non-linear change characteristics.
  • FIGURE 16 shows the steps of the non-linear processing.
  • FIGURE 16 shows the flow of operation steps for displaying the non-linear patterned EPG screen according to the fifth embodiment.
  • FIGURE 17 shows the case applying the same processing shown in FIGURE 16 to the double-window display.
  • FIGURE 17 shows an example of such a double-window display to which the operation of FIGURE 16 is adapted.
  • the EPG data from the TV station and the present time data are updated and scored in the step S121.
  • a menu screen listing display patterns is presented (step S123).
  • the viewer selects his/her favorite display pattern (step S124).
  • a non-linear processing routine corresponding to the selected display pattern is prepared.
  • a channel slot corresponding to the channel that is currently received by the viewer is defined (step S125).
  • the channel slot of the channel number or the TV station name is highlighted as shown in FIGURE 15a or 17 (step S126).
  • a channel number data of an available channel is extracted from the EPG data (step S127).
  • an absolute value of the difference Cd from the channel number Cn to the channel number Cp of currently received program by the following equation 19.
  • Cd abs (Cp ⁇ Cn)
  • step S1228 the size of the EPG slot DS is sought.
  • This seek operation can be carried out to present the EPG screen on either the right or the left screen not but on a whole screen as shown in FIGURE 15a, for example in a TV receiver with a high-performance function like the double-window system.
  • FIGURE 17 shows an example of the EPG screen presented on such a double-window display.
  • the size of a given EPG slot is determined by the following equations (step S129).
  • the base m of the logarithmic function Log is set to 10, while its coefficient N is also set to 10.
  • Ps DS/Max (Pixel Number) ⁇ (l/Log 10 (N ⁇ Cd) )
  • a character string such as a program title is extracted from the EPG data (step S131).
  • a number of characters Pc in the program title is then counted (step S132).
  • a number of characters Pg in additional information such as a sub-title is counted (step S133).
  • the number of displayable characters is checked from the size Pu determined by the equation 3.
  • the pixel size Cs of the character in the X direction (i.e., the time-axis direction on the EPG screen) is checked (step S134).
  • the size Cp of each character including the gap Gp in the X direction will be determined by the following equation 4 (step S134).
  • CC Pu/Cp
  • a character string available in the EPG slot is decided (steps S137, S139, and S141) by comparing the number of characters Pc (or Pc + Pg) obtained in the step S132 with the number of displayable characters CC calculated by the equation 23 (steps S136, S 137, and S138).
  • step S140 If "CC ⁇ PC" is positive (step S140), no character display will be carried out (step S141). [ 0 0 7 7 ]
  • step S142 it is determined whether the character display processing had been carried out for EPG slots. If there remains any EPG slot unfinished the character presentation, the operation repeats the routine on and after the step S127 (step S142).
  • the present embodiment can provide a lot of program information due to that the size of the EPG slots varies in the channel-list axis direction.
  • This sixth embodiment is different from the fifth embodiment by that the size of the characters are variable.
  • FIGURES 18a and 18b show an example that the size of the EPG slots is companded in a non-linear manner in the time-axis direction, and that the character size varies in accordance with the size of the EPG slot.
  • FIGURE 18a shows the EPG screen according to this second embodiment
  • FIGURE 18b shows three patterns of non-linear change characteristics.
  • FIGURE 19 shows the flow of operation steps for displaying the non-linear patterned EPG screen according to the sixth embodiment.
  • FIGURE 20 shows an example of that the EPG screen is superimposed on the normal program display screen on a wide-aspect display by using a semi-transparent display.
  • the EPG data from the TV station and the present time data are updated and stored in the step S151.
  • a menu screen listing display patterns is presented (step S153).
  • the viewer selects his/her favorite display pattern (step S154).
  • To the selected display pattern it reads out the non-linear processing routine.
  • a channel slot corresponding to the channel that is currently received by the viewer is defined (step S155). Then the channel slot of the channel number or the TV station name is highlighted as shown in FIGURE 18a (step S156).
  • a channel number dat of an available channel is extracted from the EPG data (step S157).
  • an absolute value of the difference Cd from the channel number Cn to the channel number Cp of currently received program by the following equation 24.
  • Cd abs (Cp ⁇ Cn)
  • step S158 the size of the EPG slot DS is sought.
  • This seek operation can be carried out to present the EPG screen on either the right or the left screen, for example in a TV receiver with a high-performance function like the double-window system.
  • FIGURE 20 shows an example of that the EPG screen is superimposed on the normal program display screen by using a semi-transparent display.
  • the size Px of a given EPG slot is determined by the following equations (step S159).
  • the base m of the logarithmic function Log is set to 10, while its coefficient N is also set to 10.
  • Ps DS/Max (Pixel Number) ⁇ (l/Log 10 (N ⁇ Cd) )
  • a character string such as a program title in the EPG data is read out (step S161).
  • a number of characters Pc in the program title is then counted (step S162).
  • a number of characters Pg in additional information such as a sub-title is counted (step S163).
  • the total number of the characters to be displayed is calculated (step S164). Then the sizes of the characters are determined from the total number of the characters and the size of the EPG slot determined by the equation 8.
  • the number of characters is selected from the larger ranking the number of characters Pc in the program title and the number of characters Pg in the sub-title.
  • the size of the EPG slot Pu is divided by the selected one of the number of characters by the following equation 27 (step S165).
  • Fsz Pu/Max (Pc
  • the result Fsz of the equation 27 is compared with a threshold value Fmin of the minimum character size stored in the main memory 25 (step S166). When the Fsz is greater then the Fmin, characters with the font-size nearest to the Fsz are used for the EPG (step S167). If the Fsz is smaller than the Fmin, first the number of characters Pc in the program title and the number of characters Pg in the sub-title are compared with each other. If the Pc is smaller than the Pg, the value Fsz is again calculated by the following equation 28 (steps S168, S169).
  • Fsz Pu/Pc
  • the reason that the number of characters Pc in the program title is used for the determination of the Fsz is because of that the program title is more important for viewers than the additional program information such as the sub-title.
  • the value Fsz and the Fmin are compared with each other (step S166). If the value Fsz is greater than the Fmin, characters with the font-size nearest to the Fsz are used for the EPG slot (step S167).
  • step S166 If the value Fsz is yet smaller than the Fmin in the step S166, the display of character string in the EPG slots is given up and the slots are left in a blank (step S170).
  • step S171 it is determined whether the character display processing has been carried out for EPG slots. If there remains any EPG slot unfinished the character presentation, the operation repeats the routine on and after the step S155 (step S171).
  • the present embodiment can present a lot of program information in the EPG slots when the size of the slots had been reduced, since although the EPG slots are companded in only the time-axis direction by the non-linear processing the size of the characters is reduced in tied to the size of the EPG slots.
  • FIGURES 21a and 21b an example that the start position of the EPG slots on the EPG screen is companded in a non-linear manner in the channel-list axis direction, and that the number of characters available in the EPG slot is variable.
  • FIGURE 21a shows the EPG screen according to this seventh embodiment
  • FIGURE 21b shows the relation between the non-linear logarithmic curve and the size of the EPG slots.
  • FIGURE 22 shows the flow of operation steps for displaying the non-linear patterned EPG screen according to the seventh embodiment.
  • FIGURE 23 shows an example of such a double-window display to which the operation of FIGURE 22 is adapted.
  • the EPG data from the TV station and the present time data are updated and stored in the step S181.
  • a menu screen listing display patterns is presented (step S183).
  • the viewer selects his/her favorite display pattern (step S184).
  • a non-linear processing routine corresponding to the selected display pattern is prepared.
  • a channel slot corresponding to the channel that is currently received by the viewer is defined (step S185). Then the channel slot of the channel number or the TV station name is highlighted as shown in FIGURE 21a (step S186).
  • a channel number data of an available channel is extracted from the EPG data (step S187).
  • the channel number data is then used in the non-linear processing routine (step S188).
  • a logarithmic function Log m Cd is read out from a memory (the base m of the logarithmic function Log is set to any number, while its coefficient N is also set to any number) (step S189).
  • a start position St of each of the EPG slot is determined by the following equation 29 (step S190).
  • the operation of the steps S187 through S190 is repeated until the start positions St of all EPG slots have been determined (step S71).
  • St Log m N(abs (Cp ⁇ Cn))
  • the size of the EPG slot is determined. Further, it is checked how many characters can be placed in the slot. Then, based on the result, necessary characters are displayed in the EPG slot. Referring back to FIGURE 22, the flow of the above-described operation will be described.
  • the size of the EPG slot Pu is determined from the difference between the start position St0 of the EPG slot and the start position St1 of the following EPG slot (step S192).
  • Pu St1 ⁇ St0
  • a character string such as a program title is extracted from the EPG data (step S193).
  • a number of characters Pc in the program title is then counted (step S194).
  • a number of characters Pg in additional information such as a sub-title is counted (step S195).
  • the number of displayable characters is checked from the size determined by the equation 30.
  • the pixel size Cs of the character in the X direction (i.e., the time-axis direction on the EPG screen) is checked (step S196).
  • the size Cp of each character including the gap Gp in the X direction will be determined by the following equation 31 (step S197).
  • CC Pu/Cp
  • a character string available in the EPG slot is decided (steps S199, S201, and S202) by comparing the number of characters Pc (or Pc + Pg) obtained in the step S77 with the number of displayable characters CC calculated by the equation 32 (steps S200, S 202, and S204).
  • step S203 If "CC ⁇ PC" is positive (step S203), no character display will be carried out (step S204).
  • step S205 it is determined whether the character display processing has been carried out for EPG slots. If there remains any EPG slot unfinished the character presentation, the operation repeats the routine on and after the step S187 (step S205).
  • the start position of the EPG screen is companded in the channel-list axis direction by the non-linear processing, and the number of characters available in the EPG slot is made variable, it can provide viewers an EPG screen with the easily readable pattern in accordance with the size of the EPG slots.
  • FIGURES 24a and 24b an example that the start position of the EPG slots on the EPG screen is companded in a non-linear manner in the channel-list axis direction, and that the number of characters available in the EPG slot is variable.
  • FIGURE 24a shows the EPG screen according to this seventh embodiment
  • FIGURE 24b shows the relation between the non-linear logarithmic curve and the size of the EPG slots.
  • FIGURE 25 shows the flow of operation steps for displaying the non-linear patterned EPG screen according to the eighth embodiment.
  • FIGURE 26 shows an example of such a double-window display to which the operation of FIGURE 25 is adapted.
  • the EPG data from the TV station and the present time data are updated and stored in the step S211.
  • a menu screen listing display patterns is presented (step S213).
  • the viewer selects his/her favorite display pattern (step S214).
  • a non-linear processing routine corresponding to the selected display pattern is prepared.
  • a channel slot corresponding to the channel that is currently received by the viewer is defined (step S215).
  • the channel slot of the channel number or the TV station name is highlighted as shown in FIGURE 24a (step S216).
  • a channel number data of an available channel is extracted from the EPG data (step S217).
  • the channel number data is then used in the non-linear processing routine (step S218).
  • a logarithmic function Log m Cd is read out from a memory (the base m of the logarithmic function Log is set to any number, while its coefficient N is also set to any number) (step S219).
  • a start position St of each of the EPG slot is determined by the following equation 33 (step S220). The operation of the steps S217 through S220 is repeated until the start positions St of all EPG slots have been determined (step S221).
  • the size of the EPG slot is determined.
  • the size of characters to be included in the EPG slot is determined. Then based on the result available characters are displayed in the EPG slot. Referring back to FIGURE 25, the flow of the above-described operation will be described.
  • the size of the EPG slot Pu is determined from the difference between the start position St0 of the EPG slot and the start position St1 of the following EPG slot (step S222).
  • Pu St1 ⁇ St0
  • a character string such as a program title is extracted from the EPG data (step S223).
  • a number of characters Pc in the program title is then counted (step S224).
  • a number of characters Pg in additional information such as a sub-title is counted (step S225).
  • the total number of the characters to be displayed is calculated (step S226).
  • the sizes of the characters are determined from the total number of the characters and the size of the EPG slot determined by the equation 34.
  • the number of characters is selected from the larger ranking the number of characters Pc in the program title and the number of characters Pg in the sub-title.
  • the size of the EPG slot Pu is divided by the selected one of the number of characters by the following equation 35 (step S227).
  • Fsz Pu/Max (Pc
  • the result Fsz of the equation 17 is compared with a threshold value Fmin of the minimum character size stored in the main memory 25 (step S228). When the Fsz is greater then the Fmin, characters with the font-size nearest to the Fsz are used for the EPG (step S229). If the Fsz is smaller than the Fmin, first the number of characters Pc in the program title and the number of characters Pg in the sub-title are compared with each other (step S230). If the Pc is smaller than the Pg, the value Fsz is again calculated by the following equation 35 (step S231).
  • Fsz Pu/Pc
  • the reason that the number of characters Pc in the program title is used for the determination of the Fsz is because of that the program title is more important for viewers than the additional program information such as the sub-title.
  • the value Fsz and the Fmin are compared with each other (step S232). If the value Fsz is greater than the Fmin, characters with the font-size nearest to the Fsz are used for the EPG slot (step S233).
  • step S232 If the value Fsz is yet smaller than the Fmin in the step S232, the display of character string in the EPG slots is given up and the slots are left in a blank (step S234).
  • step S235 it is determined whether the character display processing has been carried out for EPG slots. If there remains any EPG slot unfinished the character presentation, the operation repeats the routine on and after the step S215 (step S235).
  • the start position of the EPG screen is companded in the channel-list axis direction by the non-linear processing, and the character size is made variable, it can provide viewers an EPG screen with the easily readable pattern in accordance with the size of the EPG slots.
  • the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments.
  • both of its time-axis and channel-list axis be processed in the non-linear change pattern, as shown in FIGURE 27.
  • the character size is made variable
  • the main-title and the additional information such as the sub-title can have different font size with each other.
  • the EPG screen in displaying EPG information of the multi-channel broadcast it is possible to provide the EPG screen with program information of not only programs starting within two or three hours from present time, but also programs starting at time apart more than a half of a day from the present time. Further, it can provide viewers an easily readable EPG screen.
  • the present invention provides an extremely preferable electronic preview guide display system capable of increasing an amount of information given in at least one of the directions of the time-axis direction and the channel-list axis of an EPG screen, while in a pattern easily readable for viewers.

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EP99303331A 1998-04-28 1999-04-28 Appareil et méthode d'affichage d'un guide électronique de prévisualisation Withdrawn EP0954172A3 (fr)

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CN111131871B (zh) * 2019-12-03 2021-03-19 海信视像科技股份有限公司 一种播放节目时显示epg用户界面的方法及显示设备

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KR19990083548A (ko) 1999-11-25
EP0954172A3 (fr) 2001-04-18
CN1234685A (zh) 1999-11-10
US6532590B1 (en) 2003-03-11

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